<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>To Know Me by CrazyTaterTot49</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27257638">To Know Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyTaterTot49/pseuds/CrazyTaterTot49'>CrazyTaterTot49</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hannibal (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Poetry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 01:08:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,230</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27257638</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyTaterTot49/pseuds/CrazyTaterTot49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What does it take to truly know another?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. To Hide</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>:HL:<br/>The allegory of consumption.  <br/>A secret shared by two, is not a secret at all.  <br/>It is dark and heinous, and deliciously sympathy inducing.  <br/>From the moment I met you, my eyes could not turn away.  <br/>You were a force to be reckoned with, one of which I would gladly reside behind.  <br/>The dark shadow to your flickering light.  <br/>Like a broken teacup which has not a use once its bitter end has been met.  <br/>I would never do that to you, dearest William.  <br/>My hands would not break or mold or forsake.  <br/>I would gesture and please and sympathize.  <br/>All the while imagining what you would look like covered in the blood of our shared victim.  <br/>I could call this love.  <br/>Others would call it obsession.  <br/>How gauche of them to upend the content of our bowl without daring to look inside.  <br/>They wouldn’t understand anyways.  <br/>No one truly does, not until they know every part of another's soul. <br/>The light.  <br/>The happiness.  <br/>The struggle.  <br/>The misery.  <br/>The lies.  <br/>The darkness.  <br/>My monster was always too eager to meet you.  <br/>Scratching at the floorboards of my mind and howling for recognition.  <br/>Sometimes I simply could not help myself.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. To See</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A continuation of "To Hide".</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>:HL:<br/>I once told you that the mirrors in your mind do not reflect the worst of others.  <br/>They reflect the best of yourself.  <br/>And what would they say dear Will, if they knew the words you spoke?  <br/>That you relinquished the truth of pleasure derived from a kill.  <br/>Hobbs surely served his purpose, that I know.  <br/>But I could never truly predict you.  <br/>An enigma in my mind, and in my eyes.  <br/>Who is the real liar here?  <br/>You or I?  <br/>I showed you myself, and what do I receive in return?  <br/>The same sentence I deemed to damn you from others.  <br/>You clever boy.    <br/>Once upon a time, I would never dream of throwing my freedom away.  <br/>But then I met you.  <br/>A stunning man who avoided eye-contact as if it were a disease.  <br/>You had a mind and tongue so sharp it could cut my flesh.  <br/>You picked up on my clues and pieced them together like none of the other simpleminded members of your faux team could.  <br/>It was simply exhilarating to see your every reaction to my tableaus.  <br/>I tried not to push too much.  <br/>And yet, you were right about one thing from the start.  <br/>I wished no one else to be in your mind sans myself.  <br/>_<br/>You eventually knew, however, even after everything.  <br/>I assure you that I have no regrets to speak of for my actions. <br/>No loss that is dire in revealing myself to you.  <br/>The life I had built so easily deconstructable that if it were a ruse, no one would know the difference.  <br/>I watched you grow and your light dim as the darkness sank into your skin.  <br/>Did you ever truly look over your shoulder?  <br/>Ever see the presence waiting for you with an outstretched hand?  <br/>You did, but believing it was something you vehemently denied.  <br/>Because if your anchor were to be your worst nightmare, would you not hide away?  <br/>Everything you are.  <br/>Every painstaking development of darkness that you flounder beneath.  <br/>You were always too sharp to miss my inclinations completely.  <br/>And for that, I sit here, staring through the glass that separates us.  <br/>Your blue eyes are different.  <br/>Calmer.  <br/>Sanded corners where there once was broken glass.    <br/>Where has your fervor gone?  <br/>Your determination?  <br/>Your fire?<br/>I dare not voice these thoughts.  <br/>Because you see me now.  <br/>And I am the one getting lost in you now.  <br/>The look of such fear in your eyes as that fateful night in my kitchen when I ripped everything away again…..<br/>I remember it far too well.  <br/>And it makes me far sicker than I’d like to admit to myself.  <br/>Because this time it is me who fears what you will do when you say you need me.  <br/>A slow gut clenching churn in my gut at where you will lead me now with that mask upon your face.  <br/>Because surely we are far past formalities and hiding behind person suits?  <br/>Surely you can show me even just a smidgen of what had been cultivated in those years we knew one another so well?  <br/>Surely you can show me your teeth?  <br/>Your monster?  <br/>I’ve already shown you mine.    <br/>Or……Is it too much to ask for some reciprocity?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. To Be</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A Continuation of "To See".</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>:HL:<br/>You are truly a prince of your own right.  <br/>Toppling me from my throne.  <br/>Leaving me to fall down the steep incline of all that I would do for you.  <br/>This line of thought often persuades the notion of pondering how my actions could have tipped you off the edge and into my arms.  <br/>If I were more careful?  <br/>More gentle?  <br/>If I chose differently?  <br/>Would you step closer and breathe the same air?  <br/>Caress the knife’s edge with a sharp smile to match the striking ice in our eyes?  <br/>I suppose I shall not know.  <br/>And am unsure if I ever will.  <br/>Because, I showed you all of me.  <br/>Gave you something to chase and catch.  <br/>Held you in my arms as I healed the hurts I had caused.  <br/>Whispering sweet nothings into your ear and letting you in all over again to that which I held under lock and key.  <br/>I suppose this was the price to pay.  <br/>The fall.  <br/>Waves approaching closer and closer, thrashing against sharp and jagged rocks.  <br/>Dark with the oceans grasping reach.  <br/>Surrender, it croons so sweetly.  <br/>And in this moment.  <br/>I hold you in my arms and we are likely to die.  <br/>You grasp tighter still, and I know you understand.  <br/>That which burns deep inside.  <br/>One of many emotions I hold for you.  <br/>Darling, I love you……..</p><p>_</p><p>*The waves swallow their bodies, a lovers leap that allows them to be swept away by a current that has no hope of breaking them apart.  Have they survived? No one knows.  Rumors and speculations have been thrown around.  A certain redhead in particular voraciously writes her theories within her news column, however there is never any evidence to backup her claims.  No bodies were ever found.  And no one truly knew what happened to the pair.  It was as if they simply disappeared into the greater beyond, leaving none the wiser.*</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. To Cherish</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bonus chapter with a time skip of about six months between the end of the previous chapter and beginning of this one.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Somewhere in a far off country, two men stroll down the street hand in hand.<br/>
Pedestrians rush to and fro, some already busy manning stalls, while others hurry to get to their destination on time.<br/>
The smaller man curls into the larger one's side as a brisk morning wind picks up and sends shivers down his spine with its cool touch.<br/>
Blue eyes meet burgundy as the larger man smiles softly.  He leans over to kiss the other man’s cheek and wrap the end of his scarf around his partner's neck.<br/>
A scar on the smaller man's cheek pulls slightly as he smiles, offering a squeeze to the larger man’s hand in affection.<br/>
Golden bands glint on both men’s fingers, joining them together in an unbreakable bond.<br/>
Neither carries worries, nor regrets.  Only content and fulfillment.<br/>
Two individuals, one heart, conjoined.<br/>
They walk on, disappearing into the Sunday morning crowd of church goers and farmer's market customers, no one the wiser of the two unique souls in their wake.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>